From the Dean

Thank You

As we conclude the fall semester, I’d like to express our gratitude for the generous support we received from so many graduates and friends last year. I am pleased to report that we set a new fundraising record: $51.3 million in new cash and new pledges in 2011–12. This is 35 percent more than our prior fundraising record set in 2007–08, and triple the level of support we received prior to when I began my service as dean in 2004. In five of the eight years I have served as dean, we have more than doubled the Law School’s traditional fundraising level. We owe this success to the many graduates and friends who have supported us so generously.

Much of this support comes from new donors. In fact, we have received gifts of $500,000 or more from 97 donors since 2004. Of these donors, 70 had given much more modestly (and, in many cases, not at all) before then.

This support of our graduates and friends has allowed us to increase the size of the voting faculty substantially, and to launch new curricular initiatives in national security law; transactional studies; climate change law; sexuality and gender law; law, business, and public policy; comparative law; institutional and social change; and a broad range of other fields.

Campaign gifts have also allowed us to increase the level of financial aid for our students, establish 60 new endowed scholarships, and guarantee summer funding to all first- and second-year students since 2008. We have also substantially enhanced our loan repayment assistance program for the J.D. Class of 2008 and subsequent classes, and launched a number of new postgraduate fellowships as well. We have established 22 new endowed professorships and 11 new faculty research funds. Additionally, we have added a new floor to Jerome Greene Hall and made a number of other physical improvements to our vibrant campus. And, of course, we have much more still to do!

Thank you again for your generosity and your commitment to our School. Your support helps us to train future generations to be stewards of the rule of law and leaders in every sector across the globe.